Archive for December 2006

Think your new-fangled 10 megapixel camera is hot stuff? Professional photographers can now pick up a camera that captures up to 160 million pixels in a single shot. The Seitz 6×17 is a panoramic high definition digital camera with an unbelievable resolution of 7,500 by 21,250 pixels.

If you’ve always wanted to build up a huge collection of vintage console games, now is you chance to do it in one fell swoop. Some guy over in Hamburg, Germany has decided to sell off his collection of over ninety classic (and not so classic) video game consoles on eBay.

I’ve seen a number of paper-to-digital note recorders over the years, but this is the first time I’ve come across one that can actually recognize multiple ink colors. The LaPazz D-Note DNA500 from UC-Logic is a small notepad that records your handwritten notes on the computer, and can automatically recognize blue, red and black ink colors (special pens are required for this feature) when storing digital versions of your notes.

Hitachi has started to crank out a new 2.9-inch LCD panel that can handle a whopping 800 x 480 pixels of resolution on its tiny screen. The new display has about five times the resolution of the typical QVGA (240 x 320) color displays found on mobile phones.

Around 7:00pm Central Time today (12/27/2006), the online game play portion of the Xbox Live service went down for the count, and as of this writing, (about 4-1/2 hours later), the service remains down. According to most reports, other portions of the service, such as chat, messages and downloads appear to be functional.

If you’re in the market for a compact printer that you can throw in your briefcase, look no further than the new Brother Mprint MW-260. The compact black and white printer can print up to 20PPM and measures just 6.3″ x 8.3″ x 0.7″, just barely larger than a sheet of letter-sized paper folded in half.

Just because Christmas is over, doesn’t mean that the new releases on Xbox Live Arcade are done. This morning, Microsoft released an updated version of the Namco arcade classic Rally-X. The Xbox Live Arcade game is actually based on the sequel, New Rally-X, was released back in 1981.

Find yourself eating too much these holidays? Perhaps this wacky new invention will help you keep your New Year’s resolution to cut down. A Ukranian scientist has developed a prototype of a plate that automatically tells you when you’ve eaten more food than you’re supposed to.

Industrial designer Josh Owen has created this simple lighting fixture that’s cast in the shape of a bowling pin. The cool part is that it’s got a tilt sensor inside of it that turns off when the lamp is knocked over, and turns back on when stood upright.

Wii hacker, LiquidIce has set up an integration between his Wii console and his home automation systems. The system lets him control his lights, thermostat, security and home entertainment systems, all from his Nintendo Wii. The system is actually a web-based interface written in PHP and Flash running on a MySQL database.

If you’re waiting for the improvements in Windows Vista before you start using a PC in your home entertainment center, you might want to check out this new remote that’s coming from Ricavision in April 2007.

Did you forget how long ago you put that meat in the fridge, or when you last scooped the nasty cat box… how about the last time you changed the oil in your car? This simple, ingenious device lets helps you keep track of the last time you performed a specific task, right in the context of the item in question.

Just in time for Christmas, Playstation 3 owners are getting a small glimmer of happiness in the midst of all of the lumps of coal that Sony has dealt us so far. On December 24, they’ll be offering the Gran Turismo HD Concept game as a free download on the Playstation Store.

Our favorite modder of all things video game has to be Ben Heckendorn (aka “Ben Heck”.) He’s brought us portable Xbox 360s, Atari 800s and the original portable version of the Atari 2600 VCS. Ben’s latest endeavor was to take his original Atari VCSp (his first portable 2600,) and update it into a cleaner more modern design.

While the rest of the world continues to become more and more plastic, the folks over at Wood Contour are interested in using natural materials in their products. For starters, Wood Contour offers keyboards, mice and monitors constructed from solid hardwoods such as cherry, mahogany, beech, oak, ash, and maple.

Now that the Nintendo Wii has been on the market for a little while, we’re starting to see to truly cool hacks using the Wii remote’s motion and accelerometer sensors to control things other than the original console.